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Morphologic Interpretation of Rock Failure Mechanisms Under Uniaxial Compression Based on 3D Multiscale High-resolution Numerical Modeling

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Abstract

Multiscale continuous lab oratory observation of the progressive failure process has become a powerful means to reveal the complex failure mechanism of rock. Correspondingly, the representative volume element (RVE)-based models, which are capable of micro/meso- to macro-scale simulations, have been proposed, for instance, the rock failure process analysis (RFPA) program. Limited by the computational bottleneck due to the RVE size, multiscale high-resolution modeling of rock failure process can hardly be implemented, especially for three-dimensional (3D) problems. In this paper, the self-developed parallel RFPA3D code is employed to investigate the failure mechanisms and various fracture morphology of laboratory-scale rectangular prism rock specimens under unconfined uniaxial compression. The specimens consist of either heterogeneous rock with low strength or relatively homogeneous rock with high strength. The numerical simulations, such as the macroscopic fracture pattern and stress–strain responses, can reproduce the well-known phenomena of physical experiments. In particular, the 3D multiscale continuum modeling is carried out to gain new insight into the morphologic interpretation of brittle failure mechanisms, which is calibrated and validated by comparing the actual laboratory experiments and field evidence. The advantages of 3D multiscale high-resolution modeling are demonstrated by comparing the failure modes against 2D numerical predictions by other models. The parallel RVE-based modeling tool in this paper can provide an alternative way to investigate the complicated failure mechanisms of rock.

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Abbreviations

D :

Damage variable

D ed :

Elastic matrix

E, E 0 :

Young’s modulus (elastic modulus) of damaged and undamaged materials

E ed :

Stiffness tensor

f c :

Compressive strength (unconfined, uniaxial)

f cr :

Compressive residual strength

f t :

Tensile strength (uniaxial)

f tr :

Tensile residual strength

m :

Homogeneity index

n :

Unit normal vector

u :

Displacement vector

\(\varGamma\) :

Boundary of the domain

\(\varGamma_{\text{u}}\) :

Displacement boundary

\(\varGamma_{\sigma }\) :

Traction boundary

\({\varvec{\upvarepsilon}}\) :

Strain tensor

ε 1, ε 2, ε 3 :

Maximum, minimum and intermediate principal strain

ε c0 :

Elastic compressive strain limit

ε t0 :

Elastic tensile strain limit

ε tl :

Tensile strain limit

\(\phi\) :

Friction angle

\(\nu\) :

Poisson’s ratio

ρ :

Density

\({\varvec{\upsigma}}\) :

Stress tensor

σ 1, σ 2, σ 3 :

Maximum, minimum, and intermediate principal stress

\(\varOmega\) :

3D domain

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by Grants from the 973 program (Grant No. 2014CB047100), the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51309261, 41030747, 51108472, 51274053), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province China (Grant No. S2013040016764, S2011040005172, S2012010010446), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 14lgpy11) and State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology (Grant No. SKLGDUEK1423). We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable modification suggestions on the significant improvement of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mechanics and Engineering, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Gen Li

  2. Institute for Rock Instability and Seismicity Research, School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116023, China

    Zheng-Zhao Liang & Chun-An Tang

  3. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chun-An Tang

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  1. Gen Li
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Correspondence to Gen Li.

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Li, G., Liang, ZZ. & Tang, CA. Morphologic Interpretation of Rock Failure Mechanisms Under Uniaxial Compression Based on 3D Multiscale High-resolution Numerical Modeling. Rock Mech Rock Eng 48, 2235–2262 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-014-0698-2

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